Another horrendous massacre in Colorado by another madman, this one fancying himself as Batman’s nemesis the Joker, an arch villain who wants to kill and destroy just for the sake of killing and destroying.

The nonstop local coverage of this tragedy seems to consist of endless repetition, with a new nugget of information only every three or four hours, punctuated by occasional exploitation by politicians. Other than the predictable, cliché condemnation of guns, there has been little or no analysis of the possible cause of such terrible events. This lack of interest seems incredible given the “enquiring minds” of the media, and the unfortunate fact that this incident occurred in the same general community as the Columbine tragedy. Read more…

It is so dry. Each morning I awaken to the faint smell of smoke, from somewhere. I head outside and scan the horizon. For several days it was the Myrtle Fire just north of Hot Springs. To the east, on the Rosebud Reservation, a large and deadly conflagration takes its toll. Tuesday evening, new smoke billowed to the west of my house about 10 miles off. Rumors of other blazes steadily filter in.

It is so dry.

Then there is the mixed blessing of the evening thunder clappers, what the Lakota Oyate call Wakinyan ya: Thunder Spirits. They bring a little rain to a few patches of ground, and something else. Every evening this week, against their indigo underbelly, swift clouds send jagged phosphorous pincers to repeatedly pierce the earth and sky. In syncopated rhythm comes the report of cannon against the eardrums. Terrifying. Read more…

The record-speed sellout for the Great American Beer Festival underscores shows just how much Coloradans love their craft beer.

All 49,000 tickets to the three-day festival in October were gone in 45 minutes.

There was grousing and concern about scalpers scooping up tickets, but the bottom line, it seems, is that the appetite for tickets truly is a function of an affinity for craft beer. Apparently, a lot of people will drink to that.

The details are thin at this point, but it’s safe to say that no matter how it unfolded the fact that James Eagan Holmes was identified as a “threat” yet managed to go on to kill 12 people and wound 58 others is bad news indeed.

The Post’s story today said a University of Colorado Denver psychiatrist seeing accused murderer James Eagan Holmes was so concerned by his behavior that she notified the campus-wide threat-assessment team.

Members of the members of the campus’ Behavioral Evaluation and Threat Assessment team were informed, but no further action was taken, according to an unnamed source cited in the story.

Without knowing more details about, for instance, the nature of the alarming behavior, it’s difficult to take issue with how the report was handled. However, we surely aren’t alone in wishing that Holmes, the alleged killer in the Aurora movie theater shootings, had been detected and stopped.

News item: Big transportation funding measure defeated by voters due to lack of confidence in government and doubt about whether the projects were “transformational.”

That was the assessment as to why a 10-year, 1 percent sales tax was defeated by Atlanta area voters this week, but I can’t help but think those very concerns would be an issue for Denver area voters if they are asked to open their wallets for additional FasTracks funding any time in the near future.

It strikes me that such doubts go beyond the details of particular projects and embody deeper worries that voters have about the economy and how wisely government uses taxpayer money.

In Atlanta, the $7.2 billion transportation plan, oddly named T-SPLOST, was supported by the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the broader political and business establishment. Millions were spent on the campaign to urge voters to approve the tax. Opponents mustered little in the way of cash, but still the measure went down.

The analysis from Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, a strong supporter of the tax-hike, was this: “We lost the ‘confidence in government’ argument,” he said. “And the argument around whether our projects are transformational.”

It’s worth noting that in Denver, an additional FasTracks sales tax to finish out the mass transit project likely would be a fraction of a penny increase and almost certainly would garner the support of a broad coalition of government and business leaders.

In Atlanta, that kind of support wasn’t enough to push their rail and highway construction project to a win despite serious traffic congestion problems in the Atlanta metro area.

Here in Colorado, members of the Regional Transportation District board decided wisely in April not to ask voters for additional sales tax revenue.

At the time, RTD board chief Lee Kemp said: “I think we have to ask ourselves when will it be appropriate? We have our work cut out for us.”

Indeed.

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A Denver company owned by a devout Catholic family got at least a temporary reprieve last week from the contraception mandate in federal health reform law that they said infringed on their religious liberties.

In granting the preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge John Kane determined that Hercules Industries, a manufacturer of heating and air-conditioning equipment, established that they would suffer “irreparable harm” were they forced to comply with the rule, which took effect Wednesday.

We’ll share our view on the ruling in Sunday’s Perspective section. Before then, here’s a look at what’s being said elsewhere:Read more…

A “smart” electricity grid is a good idea. In fact, it’s a very good idea, as I pointed out in a column two years ago. But that doesn’t mean ratepayers should necessarily be on the hook for the final $16.6 million that Xcel Energy spent on a pilot program in Boulder called SmartGridCity.

Just 18 months ago, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission allowed Xcel to charge its customers for $27.9 million of the smart grid bill. Now Xcel is asking the PUC to put the remaining $16.6 million that it spent on SmartGridCity into customer bills as well. This is the point at which the commission should just say no.

SmartGridCity delivered less consumer benefit than originally advertised. More to the point, however, it cost way more than Xcel estimated. Surely this sort of major miscalculation should cost Xcel more than a little bad publicity.

Vincent Carroll is The Denver Post's editorial page editor. He has been writing commentary on politics and public policy in Colorado since 1982 and was originally with the Rocky Mountain News, where he was also editor of the editorial pages until that newspaper gave up the ghost in 2009.

Guidelines: The Post welcomes letters up to 150 words on topics of general interest. Letters must include full name, home address, day and evening phone numbers, and may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.

To reach the Denver Post editorial page by phone: 303-954-1331

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